Ontario made this training mandatory for construction workers who use fall protection. The program is set by the Chief Prevention Officer, delivered by approved training providers, and recorded on a public register — which means an employer can verify a worker’s certificate rather than take a card at face value.
What it means in practice
- Three years, then a refresher. The refresher is shorter than the initial program, and letting it lapse means starting over rather than topping up.
- It does not travel with the worker into other duties. The certificate covers the general principles; the employer still owes site-specific and equipment-specific training on the actual anchor points, the actual rescue plan and the actual equipment in use.
- A rescue plan is part of the job, not part of the certificate. Suspension trauma makes “we will call 911” an inadequate answer, and the plan is the employer’s to write.
What it is not
It is not a national requirement. This is Ontario construction. Other provinces require fall-protection training and equipment, but through their own regulations, their own thresholds — the height at which fall protection is triggered is not the same everywhere — and without an equivalent provincially-approved certificate. A worker moving from Ontario to Alberta does not carry a transferable ticket.
It is not equipment inspection. The training tells a worker how to use a system; whether the harness is still fit to use is a separate, recurring obligation with its own record.
And it is not the French VGP or the German Prüffrist. Those govern the equipment; this governs the person. Confusing them produces a register that tracks certificates and never notices a harness that has expired.